CHAPTER II
ON GENDER.
[§ 180]. How far is there such a thing as gender in the English language? This depends upon the meaning that we attach to the word.
In the Latin language we have the words taurus = bull, and vacca = cow. Here the natural distinction of sex is expressed by wholly different words. With this we have corresponding modes of expression in English: e.g.,
| Male. | Female. | Male. | Female. |
| Bachelor | Spinster. | Horse | Mare. |
| Boar | Sow. | Ram | Ewe. |
| Boy | Girl. | Son | Daughter. |
| Brother | Sister. | Uncle | Aunt. |
| Buck | Doe. | Father | Mother, &c. |
The mode, however, of expressing different sexes by wholly different words is not a matter of gender. The words boy and girl bear no etymological relation to each other; neither being derived from the other, nor in any way connected with it.
[§ 181]. Neither are words like cock-sparrow, man-servant, he-goat, &c., as compared with hen-sparrow, maid-servant, she-goat, &c., specimens of gender. Here a difference of sex is indicated by the addition of a fresh term, from which is formed a compound word.
[§ 182]. In the Latin words genitrix = a mother, and